Signs of Summer Approaching

For me, a Dave Matthews show is a sure sign that summer is near. We missed his free show at Piedmont Park last year and were not about to miss his first show at the new Encore Park amphitheater near us. It was fantastic, as always, and the new amphitheater is quite lovely. Hopefully they will have lots of good musicians visting there soon. It feels like such an endulgence to only have to drive 20 minutes to see a show instead of over an hour.

I have been experiencing technical difficulties between my camera and my computer, but I think I have things figured out and have lots to post about, so more soon!

Quilt Festival

Around this time last year, I was totally green with envy that my mom was getting ready to jaunt off to Paducah for their annual quilt show without me, and so I hosted my own little quilt show. It just so happens that this year Amy over at Park City Girl is hosting a virtual quilt show asking people to post their favorite quilt. I have different quilts that are my favorite for all different reasons, but this one remains to be my all-time favorite because it is the one that first got me really excited about quilting and all the possibilites fabric as an art medium can hold.

I went through a major phase where I was obsessed with fabric folding. It sort of became a joke among my quilty friends because it was all I did or thought about. This quilt came out of that phase and I still love it. It hangs in my daughter's bedroom and I gaze at it from time to time and still wonder about the fact that it even exists. This quilt took a ton of focus, detrmination to make a design work, and is full of techniques that I learned just to make it and have probably since forgotten. It looks totally different in the changing light throughout the day and sometimes the batiks seem to just glow. This quilt will always be a symbol to me of my fascination with manipulating fabric and bringing to life something that has been knocking around in my head. Pics are from a few different angles to capture the variegated thread quilting and all those sequins I sewed on.

This year, instead of going to Paducah, my mom and aunt are hosting Quilt Camp to work on all the projects they bought at Paducah last year, and I'm thrilled to be able to go! It will be a great chance to get a lot of sewing and knitting done, something I haven't really had time to focus on lately. And there could possibly be the consumption of a few cocktails, you just never know what can happen when a bunch of wild quilters get together!

Yes, I'm supposed to be sewing napkins...

... but I got a gift card to the yarn shop for my birthday. And my lovely mom got me one of these:

and now it is just sooooo much fun to make these:

and she also happened to mention about how this yarn would make a lovely shawl for my wedding when it gets cool in the evening. So, it's true, now there is another wedding project. She actually told me I could leave the yarn at her house and she would work on it, but I had already dropped two other projects off at her house that day. Plus, how could I leave this yarn behind anywhere? Really, just a few more weeks and then I will find something to blog about besides wedding stuff. Really!